For a moment, I don’t say anything, gathering my thoughts.Then the words spill out of me.
“I planned my escape for days,” I shrug.“Maybe weeks.It was hard to keep track of time.They monitor everything.Where you go.Who you talk to.What you say.”My fingers tighten around his.“You can’t just walk away.”
“So, you ran.”
“Yes.”I swallow hard.“I waited until the guards changed shifts.There’s a path behind the outer buildings that leads into the woods.I’d been watching it for a while.”
Logan leans forward slightly as he listens.He looks pissed, but I’m not scared of him.Somehow, I know he’d never ever hurt me.
“They saw you?”he asks, his voice flat.
“Yeah,” I whisper as fear crawls up my spine at the memory.“I almost made it out before they realized I was gone.”
“How many men?”
“Three.”
A muscle pulses in his jaw again.
“They were close behind me when I reached the trees.”
Logan releases my hands and curls his into fists.He quickly moves them, hiding them beneath the table.Something about that action almost makes me smile.
“But you lost them,” he says.
“I think so.”I glance toward the windows nervously.“I just kept running.”
For hours.Through branches, over rocks, up and down hills.The brush started to thin out, and I thought I was close to a town.Instead, I made it here before my body finally gave out.
“I guess that’s when I ended up in your yard.”
Logan’s eyes burn with something fierce.Anger?Protectiveness?Maybe both.“I’m glad you did.”
The simple words send warmth through my chest.
No!I can’t have a crush on this guy.It’s probably gratitude because he saved me and looked after me.I can’t make things awkward by going all goo-goo on him and overstaying our welcome.
“Were there others?At the cult?”Logan asks, pulling me from my troubling thoughts.
“Yeah, but I didn’t see any of them.I had a few guards, I saw my parents that first day, and that was it.”
“Did they have other captives?”
I tense.“I don’t know.I was kept in one room, and they didn’t let me out.There were other buildings, but I didn’t get close to them.I didn’t hear them mention anyone else, but they didn’t talk much in front of me.”
I sag in my chair.“You think there are others?”
Logan huffs out a breath.“I don’t know.”
“I’m not being helpful,” I mumble.“I hope no one else is trapped there.”
“Me too,” he says grimly.
I finish eating in silence.When my plate is empty, I push slowly to my feet.
“Well, thank you again,” I say awkwardly.
Logan’s eyes snap up, tracking my every move as I shift from foot to foot.
